HID in a cabinet is going to createa lot of heat; you're going to need tons of ventilation. i'm not sure what HID's home depot has, but HPS is popular around here, especially for flowering. if you want a cooler cabinet solution you can do flourescent, if you used maybe 6 T5 HO (high output) 54watt flouro tubes in a fixture at the top of your cabinet that could work. HID isn't out of the question, just know you'll need excellent cooling

if you're thinking you can put this cabinet in your livingroom and no one will know you're mistaken. you're going to need fans moving a ton of air for HID, and even with flourescent you'll need good ventilation


basically here's the basics on lights

MH and HPS (metal halide, high pressure sodium) are called HID's (high intensity discharge); they are the best lights to use IF POSSIBLE. HPS is slightly more efficient. a common thing these days is to use flourescent (either tube or cfl-compact flourescent) for vegetative, and hps for flowering. for your cabinet, IF you can cool it well, some CFL's for early growth, with say a 250w HPS you start using later (probably still during veg though) might do well


have you considered doing two cabinets: one for veg and one for flower? i hope this cabinet is going in a locked room